Early diagnosis is critical for treatment of an infection to be effective. Diagnostic assays that are capable of detecting low levels of a particular molecule, such as an antigen, could greatly impact patient outcome because they would be able to detect the molecule and thus a condition associated with such within minutes or hours from testing as compared to days required with the current methods. Earlier detection translates into earlier administration of therapies which could significantly increase the likelihood of patient survival as well as decrease the severity of the disease.
Current diagnostic tools are limited and diagnosis with these methods often occurs when the infection is so severe that treatment is inefficient and ineffective. For example, diagnosing infections, such as bacterial and fungal infections, is often plagued by symptoms of the particular infection being non-specific making it difficult to obtain an accurate diagnosis at the onset of the disease. Current diagnostic assays often can only detect a particular molecule, such as an antigen, associated with a particular disease or condition if such molecule is present at high levels, thus only detecting the infection associated with the particular molecule not until the infection is well developed.